The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-06-09
YELLOWSTONE PARK.

1t can do no possible harm to tell
the whole truth about the Yellowstone,
and to acknowledge that while the
great park contains certainly the seven
wonders of the world in natural mag
nificence, the great spaces between
these different wonders are immense
distances of utterly uninteresting seem
cry, which one traverSes over roads
covered with white binding dust
which is very nearly intolerable. 1t
is true that the hot springs, and the
geysers, and the Paint Pots, and the
falls, and the canon, and the lake, and
the many-colored pools, are worth any
amount of trouble in getting to them;
but it is also true that they are worth
taking any amount of trouble to lessen
the trouble; and since it could all be
removed by SO simple thing as few
rails and locomotive, it is certainly
pity that state of things should be
left existing which prevents the very
young, the very old, the very fastidious,
or the very weak, from enjoying the
real wonders of such journey.
In the mean time, however, there is
no railway, and our friends, as the
next best thing, would hire special
teams and camp out.
Joseph was pressed into service as
guide. 1t was very cool i'll the cor
ridors of the hotel, but single step
from the piazza proved their light sat-
teen travelling dresses more cOmforta-
BILE than the blue flannel gowns still
waiting for the reputed frost of the
Yellowstone. Colored glasses were
necessary to shield the eyes from the
intense glare in the sunlight of the
snowy terraces, dropping one after an
other for two miles from the dark pine
woods above and around them, like a
series of beautiful frozen cascades.
Il noticed there is only one man
the Man of Sense, referring to his
guide-books as they crossed the white
plateau at the base of the extinct
springs, and paused at the foot of Old
Liberty Cap, the cone of an extinct
geyser, towering fifty feet into the air:
''He seems to know all about it, and
declares that it took just tifty-four CEN
turies to build up this thing"
Il can tell you who he is, said the
knowing Joseph, with laugh. ''He's
the man that tells you the BoilingRiver
puts fifty thousand barrels of hot water
hours. I've often told him he'd ought
ing to measure it.
I .Any estimate of the age of the low
er terrace would be purely conjectur-
AL" read the Man of Sense from an
other guide-book. ''Still, / suppose
matter of centuries. In that case, how
4 g h ~
the Devils Thumb"
For they had walked over to the
smaller column, which was not only
extinct, but crumbling with age and
| decrepitude. Art was endeavoring to
assist nature, and repair the waste by
bringing water from the hot springs
Just above in wooden troughs, letting
it trickle down the sides of the cone
and evaporate, to'leave its snowy de-
posit to repair the ravages of time.
well, that feller that knows SO
much about the figgers." explained
Joseph, s.says the Orange .Geyser
builds foot in a century. And he
says the hot springs will deposit a
sixteenth of an inch in four days. All
/ know about it is that l can put beer
bottle under some of the falling water,
| and turn IL fOunu once OF Twice, anu
have it beautifully coated over, with
a white crust that won't crumble, in a
day or two"
"Question: if you can coat beer
bottle in day or two, how long will
it take to build geyser cone? Come,
Mabel, you were last at your books. "
"Fifty-four centuries" answered the
Maiden, promptly.
Correct You may go up to the
head" and the Imperturbable pointed
to the upper terrace towering above
=. them.
1t was not at all a steep climb, but
they had to be wary about stepping
into the little rills of hot water trick
ling down from the upper springs:
''What is that dust?" exclaimed the
Convert, suddenly. Il never saw dust
rising from ice before"
We'll, marm," said the smiling JOS
eph, ..in the first place faint dust; and
in the next place, tain't ice. The
dust is steam, and the ice is forma'
! tion."